Sorry for the rant, just wondering if anyone else experienced any problems with them in the past or recently? I've normally had pretty good experience with them and go to the store in lex often. Have gone to a couple of there big sales, and parking lot events and not too impressed, mostly hype. Most of my business is done online though. . Over the last couple years I've had some problems with them in the store, but mostly the shipping dept.
used to be able to order online out of state, with out of state address and CC, then check pick up in store which would avoid state tax. NOT ANYMORE!
Used to have the order go to shipping dept., ship the same day and have the next day in Ohio. NOT ANYMORE!
Recently got a gun out of layaway with electronic check to get the cash price and was funded within 5 days.. Fine. Paid in full! They have all there $ cleared into there bank. A day later I'm notified moves to shipping dept. thinking it'll be here in two days I adjust my schedule for some other business and be it the state of my FFL. as of writing this, gun has been in shipping dept. five (5) days!! Even after me calling and asking why on Friday , they still don't ship?
The next time I'm looking for something online that I can't find at LGS will I think of ordering from buds? NOT ANYMORE!
Maybe they've gotten too big to really care?
Ok, I feel better now.

I tried to buy a pistol from Bud's earlier this year, they were the only ones that had the model I wanted. I picked that model specifically because it complied with Chicago's gun laws (now moot since the new state CC law preempts it), and arranged to have it shipped to my FFL in Lake County (not Cook County and no $25 Cook County firearms transfer tax). A few days later I got an email that my order was cancelled, they do not ship handguns to Chicago. Never mind that they were not shiping anything to Chicago, or even Cook County! My address was enough. My FFL couldn't understand it either. No big deal, since I found it at Lanbo's Armory in Texas and it was $40 cheaper there besides. Lanbo's had no issues shipping it to my FFL.

Then came time to order a few extra magazines, as fate would have it Bud's was the only place that had any in stock. I thought, order it and see... sure enough they rejected that too, saying "we don't ship high capacity magazines to Chicago". The "high capacity" magazine held 12 rounds, legal even under Chicago's preempted law. Last week I found that Lanbo's now had them in stock, and ordered the mags from them. Probably get here next week.

Bud's keeps sending me emails about their great deals, I have no ideas why since they won't fill any of my orders anyway. Just today they sent me an email about their Bushmaster Carbon 15 Superlight...

Sounds about right. I got the carbon AR pitch in person when I stopped in there last Wednesday. I had also looked at pistols too. I informed them I had Ohio drivers lic and said we can't sell you a pistol. I said yea, but you can send to my ffl. Well yea, we can do that.
After the carbon pitch how great it was, they said.. Whoa, wait.. Just got notice from Ohio. We can't sell you that either. Nothing over 30 rounds. I said yes, it's been that way a long time. 30 tours are ok, not Over!
I told him I'd pass anyway.
It's just a whole bunch of little things I see changing there over the last 5 years I've done business there. This last shipping issue and the way it was handled when I called about it is just enough for me to look elsewhere in the future.

I'll chuckle a bit on the idea that you had a gun on layaway but DANGIT, when it's time, DANGIT, it's my time now, it's gotta move NOW!!!!

Sorry, if you can't find humor in that, yeah, well, I'll still find it funny.

__________________Attention Brass rats and other reloaders: I really need .327 Federal Magnum brass, no lot size too small. Tell me what caliber you need and I'll see what I have to swap. PM me and we'll discuss.

No, don't see the humor in it. I wouldn't normally do that, but when $ gets tight occasionally and you're wanting a $1000 gun that was previously unavailable , same as cash 90 day layaway sense. I've never had to go past 60, but DANGIT!! I glad you got a chuckle!!
The issue is that its been sitting in the shipping dept for now what will be 7 days on Monday

I've purchased two firearms from them. Both were smooth as silk. I really like the fact that they list FFLs that they have on file already so all you have to do is pick one. Avoids having to ship copies of the FFL to them.

Okay, I do understand that you likely will not see the humor in it. For anyone else who may read this thread... consider a chuckle in that a gun store has an item offered and they are willing to take a -small- percentage of the actual selling price of it... and hold that item for weeks (months?) and not actually sell it to anyone else until the buyer can actually forward full payment.

And then weeks (or months?) later, the buyer gets miffed if instead of same day, it takes an extra 2-5 days.

It doesn't have to be funny to anyone or everyone. I definitely find it funny.

__________________Attention Brass rats and other reloaders: I really need .327 Federal Magnum brass, no lot size too small. Tell me what caliber you need and I'll see what I have to swap. PM me and we'll discuss.

Armed_Chicagoan--
On Bud's not shipping pistols or 12-round mags to someone with a Chicago address, I'm not surprised. On the pistol, I'm sure they are concerned of legal liabilities because it looks like you were trying to avoid the law. I wouldn't sell either. On the 12-round mag, I'm sure they try to keep it simple for staff to avoid breaking the law. Hard to keep up with all state and local laws.

GaryCW --
I can appreciate your disappointment and five days does sound a bit long. Still, if they've always shipped promptly until now, I really don't see why you are publicly trashing them.

I've had good experiences with them but I am local. I don't have to worry about that slow shipping department.

Stevens-
They are the ones that offer the layaway plan and encourage its use as a selling tool.
There's a Non-Refundable 20% put down to activate the plan. It's a win win for them. They have thousands of guns to sell, they get to keep 30% whether you ever get the gun or not and if its not paid off in 90 days, they keep all money paid and the gun. No exceptions. I've done this twice in five years and has always been paid off in 5 weeks.
There is up to a 6 day wait after electronic check is sent. No problem. But after its funded, they have All there money in their bank. I'd like to have the gun in a reasonable time frame, not lay in shipping dept, 7 days when all that's needed is slap a label on it and hand to ups driver.

Ky Jim -
Maybe I shouldn't publicly trash them, I'm just curious if anyone else has had problems, or noticed a decline of any kind in last few years?
I normally have had nothing but praise for them and have shopped there about 7 years. I'm in Lexington many times a year, and have residence in London ky & Ohio. I do purchase alot from the retail store, but ALOT of items are Internet Only! That's the only way you can get them is order online and have shipped, even if you live next door to store.
On a scale of 1-10 .. I would probably rate them a 8.5 overall. I've never had a problem with shipping before, when item goes to shipping dept. , I've always had next day. That's why I planned my Ohio business 200 miles away last Wednesday the 4th expecting it there between 4-6th at latest. I'm now returning to ky w/o gun for the next two weeks.
Bottom line they dropped the ball, didn't seem to care or do anything about it. I've noticed a few other differences with them over the years as they continue to get bigger & bigger

Armed_Chicagoan--
On Bud's not shipping pistols or 12-round mags to someone with a Chicago address, I'm not surprised. On the pistol, I'm sure they are concerned of legal liabilities because it looks like you were trying to avoid the law.

What law was I avoiding? It's not illegal to buy a firearm outside of Cook County to avoid a transfer tax any more than it's illegal to buy cigarettes or gasoline in Indiana to avoid Illinois/Chicago/Cook County taxes.

And it's impossible to buy any gun in Chicago, as there are no gun stores in Chicago. It's a 45 minute drive for me to get to a "local" gun store (Dick's in Niles is closest, but they have a very limited selection), may as well buy it where it's cheapest.

And FWIW my FFL said they had no problems in the past with Bud's sending them guns for customers in Chicago. And the FFL was even on Bud's list of FFLs. This is apparently a new policy there.

And while so-called "assault rifles" are banned in Chicago and Cook County, it's not illegal for a resident of those places to own one. There's ranges and gun stores outside of the city/county that rent lockers specifically so people can legally store firearms which are prohibited where they live.

What law was I avoiding? It's not illegal to buy a firearm outside of Cook County to avoid a transfer tax any more than it's illegal to buy cigarettes or gasoline in Indiana to avoid Illinois/Chicago/Cook County taxes.

I'll take your word for it. It just sounds "sketchy," to use a term my kids have used. I understand that some states limit the amount of cigarettes you can bring in from out of state and some will tax Internet cigarette sales at their (higher) rate. The point is that a business might be wary of falling into the legal abyss.

I'm a resident of ky most of the time, but cannot buy hand gun there because my DL is Ohio. No problem. I use ffl in Ohio if needed. I did buy a hand gun in Florida last year at a pawn shop though. The owner said it was his personnel gun. No tax either.
Legal issues with business are one thing, customer service and truth in advertising is another.
It's the little things with buds that seem to be adding up against them for me. Emails from them promising great things that turn out not so great. Back in the summer they had a big extravaganza with mfg reps, raffles, and millions of rounds of everything including 22's ammo discounted. It was ok, they even had some food,but ammo was priced as usual, and the only 22's was shorts, longs and a few boxes of sub- low velocity LR.
They did have one small table of 7.62x39 wolf for $4.99@ box. The only good deal I saw and got.
Last week email was a big holster blowout/ close out , one day only, so i stopped by and there was one table of about 30 holsters. 28 was for p220 and two was p238. Looked like the normal pricing around $33. Maybe they were originally $36?
I still use the website alot to compare prices , customer reviews and look stuff up. There photos and descriptions are hit or miss. Sometimes well detailed, sometimes not much

I definitely have noticed that on the used guns they offer... they hardly -EVER- show a picture anymore, which kind of blows my mind. On a used gun, you don't have a lot to go on and a picture almost seems mandatory, but they hardly ever seem to add them anymore. Is it because the used guns flip so quickly?

Their current deal of police trade M&P 9mm pistols seems like a pretty good buy, if you're in to that kind of thing.

__________________Attention Brass rats and other reloaders: I really need .327 Federal Magnum brass, no lot size too small. Tell me what caliber you need and I'll see what I have to swap. PM me and we'll discuss.

I definitely have noticed that on the used guns they offer... they hardly -EVER- show a picture anymore, which kind of blows my mind. On a used gun, you don't have a lot to go on and a picture almost seems mandatory, but they hardly ever seem to add them anymore. Is it because the used guns flip so quickly?

Their current deal of police trade M&P 9mm pistols seems like a pretty good buy, if you're in to that kind of thing.

I agree you should be able to see the actual gun you're buying. Not just there description and rateing. Most are usually marked out of stock? Then why list them? The retail store however is full of them ! Just not online

I've bought a gun from Bud's as well as being there when a couple of buddies bought guns from them and we all experienced great service, fair prices and good service. That said, I'm local(ish. They are about 70 miles south of me.) and I shop in person.

I do know they do one hell of a business both in their store as well as Internet and that place is BUSY.

I know waiting sucks.... But you can pay more and have it quicker or pay less and have it later. It's a free market. If enough people have issues and take their business elsewhere, Buds will notice.

Quote:

I'm a resident of ky most of the time, but cannot buy hand gun there because my DL is Ohio

I do know they do one hell of a business both in their store as well as Internet and that place is BUSY.

I know waiting sucks.... But you can pay more and have it quicker or pay less and have it later. It's a free market. If enough people have issues and take their business elsewhere, Buds will notice.

Then you aren't a resident of Kentucky....

The only problem I had was with a fully paid for and funded gun laying in shipping dept 5 days.
They've always been shipped same day as in shipping for years

Yes the do a heck of a business. There online sales is at least 20 times what they do in retail store and range. It's in the millions every year. I've always got good service there and online. It's just some things I've noticed the last couple years that makes me wonder if there having some more growing pains and sometimes take there customers a little for granted. I've shopped there almost 8 years, seen the store remodeled a cpl times and some new features for online shopping.

As far as being a resident of ky, I don't vote there, my drivers license isn't ky, But I live in ky! And my truck has ky farm tags. And I don't expect to purchase handguns in ky

Garycw I did buy a hand gun in Florida last year at a pawn shop though. The owner said it was his personnel gun. No tax either

And you both committed a Federal crime.

Whether it was the pawnbrokers personal gun is immaterial.

-Handguns may only be acquired within ones own state of residence.
-When outside your own state of residence, you may only acquire rifles or shotguns from a licensed dealer.
-Firearm transactions between nonlicensed residents of different states is prohibited by federal law.

Quote:
I'm a resident of ky most of the time, but cannot buy hand gun there because my DL is Ohio

Then you aren't a resident of Kentucky....

Uh......yes he is. A drivers license has no bearing on a buyers state of residence.

For the purpose of buying a firearm, ATF considers a person to be a resident of the state where you make your home. It is possible to have more than one state of residence.

If the government issued photo ID does not show the buyers current residence address, then the buyer should provide alternate government issued documentation that shows the current residence address and the buyers name.

Ok,off the topic, but this is where it gets Interesting. I also have a residence in Florida and a licensed vehicle there too. So I'm actually a resident of Ohio, Kentucky and Florida. Believe it or not! I supposed I could take utility and tax bills in to license bureau and get state ID's

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